ChatGPT Will Remember What You Did on Your Mac. Here’s How Computer History Actually Works.

This is not Windows Recall, and it is not a screen recorder. ChatGPT’s Computer History feature on Mac builds a timeline from clicks, typing, keyboard shortcuts, and app switches. Events, not pixels. OpenAI is not vacuuming your display.

The feature landed this week in the ChatGPT desktop app on macOS. It replaces Chronicle, the Codex research preview that captured the screen. Computer History is a rebuild, not a rename. It records interaction events macOS already exposes through accessibility, then turns those events into text summaries that ChatGPT and Codex can reference later.

You can ask what you were doing before a break. You can find “that proposal from this morning” without the filename. It can also suggest turning a repeated workflow into a skill. That is the pitch. Here is who can use it, how to turn it on, what to keep out, and the two risks OpenAI names in its own docs.

Source: OpenAI’s Computer History documentation. Coverage: 9to5Mac on the Mac launch.

Who gets it, and who does not

Computer History is off by default. You have to turn it on. Nobody else can do that for you.

It is available to ChatGPT Pro, Business, and Enterprise users in the macOS desktop app. macOS only. It does not work with an API key or Amazon Bedrock. It also requires Memories. If Memories is off, Computer History stays off.

Business and Enterprise add a second gate. An administrator has to grant access first. Enterprise admins do that with Enable Computer History under Workspace Settings, Permissions & roles. That grant only unlocks the toggle. It does not opt anyone in. Each person still has to turn the feature on themselves, including Pro users.

If you are in the European Economic Area, Switzerland, or the United Kingdom, you cannot use it. OpenAI says it is not currently available there. Local settings will not override a locked workspace role or a blocked region.

What it captures (and what it leaves alone)

Computer History builds an interaction-event stream from the apps and websites you allow. Those events can include clicks, typing, keyboard shortcuts, app switches, and other context macOS exposes through accessibility.

It does not capture screenshots, screen recordings, microphone input, or system audio. Private or incognito browsing is never included. It does not need Screen Recording permission.

Raw events sit on your Mac for up to 48 hours, isolated in the ChatGPT App Group. ChatGPT and Codex then start a short-lived session to turn that stream into text summaries and local memory files. OpenAI’s line on the server hop: “OpenAI does not retain those event files after processing unless required by law and does not use them for training.”

The memories that come back stay on your machine until you delete them. OpenAI’s docs are blunt about the format. They are the same kind of local memories Codex already writes: plain-text Markdown files you can open and edit. They live under $CODEX_HOME/memories/extensions/skysight/, which usually resolves to ~/.codex/memories/extensions/skysight/. They are not encrypted by Computer History. Any program running as your macOS user may be able to read them.

One extra wrinkle, also from the official page: when ChatGPT or Codex later uses a memory in a chat, that chat content may be used to improve models if your ChatGPT data controls allow it. The event files themselves are the part OpenAI says it does not train on.

How to turn it on

Two minutes, if your plan and region qualify. If you are on Business or Enterprise, get the admin grant first. That grant is not an opt-in.

1. Open the ChatGPT desktop app on macOS.
2. Go to Settings, then Integrations, then Computer history.
3. Select Turn on and read the privacy, permissions, and local-storage notes.
4. If prompted, turn on Memories. Computer History will not run without it.
5. Pick which apps and websites can contribute, then follow the macOS permission prompts.

If the setting is missing, check the plan, the region, and (for workspaces) whether an admin has actually granted access.

What to exclude tonight

You control the sources. Under Settings, Computer history, Permissions you can exclude specific apps and website URLs, or allow only the ones you name. You can also click an app icon on a timeline item to cut that app out of future history. Pause from the ChatGPT icon in the macOS menu bar when you want the stream to stop. Resume when you are ready. Turn the feature off if you want collection to stay off.

OpenAI’s own advice is the one to follow. Pause or exclude apps that hold sensitive health, financial, or personal information. Turn it off during conversations with other people unless you have their prior express consent.

A practical exclude list for tonight, if you turn it on at all:

• Password managers and authenticator apps
• Banking, payroll, and tax sites
• Health portals and anything with medical records
• Work email and chat, if you are not sure your org (or the other person) is fine with a log

Changing permissions only affects future history. Old items stay until you delete them.

The two catches: prompt injection and local files

OpenAI names the security problem in plain language. Computer History increases the prompt-injection surface. If a page or an app contains malicious instructions, ChatGPT or Codex might follow them, because those instructions can now ride in as “what you were doing.”

The other catch is on disk. The memory files are unencrypted Markdown. They can hold sensitive information. They stay until you delete them. OpenAI tells you to protect the Mac account and exclude sources you do not want written down. Summarizing activity also uses tokens. This is not a free background log.

You can inspect the timeline under Settings, Computer history, History. Each item can show a title, a summary, the apps that contributed, and sometimes a suggested skill. You can reveal the memory file in Finder, delete one item, or clear the last 10 minutes, the last hour, the last day, or everything. The menu bar can also clear the last session for a recent app. Clearing cannot be undone.

Weekend checklist

• Confirm you are on ChatGPT Pro, Business, or Enterprise, on the macOS desktop app, and not in the EEA, Switzerland, or the UK.
• If you are on a work workspace, get the admin grant. Then opt in yourself. The grant is not the opt-in.
• Turn on Memories only if you actually want activity context across chats.
• Exclude password managers, banking, health, and any comms app you have not cleared with the other people in the thread.
• Know the two risks before you flip it on: prompt injection from pages and apps, and unencrypted Markdown memory files on disk that use tokens to build.
• If you would not want last hour’s clicks sitting in ~/.codex/memories/extensions/skysight/, leave it off.